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I don't watch the show regularly any more so this may have changed a while back. When did the CBS Pages stop standing at or near contestant's row during taping? Are there any pages in studio at all now?

A month late but they're still there, just farther offstage than they used to be. When there's a chance a contestant that may need assistance wins their One Bid the pages appear magically near the stairs.

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Quote from: Bill Todman

"The sign of a good game, is when you don't have to explain it every day. The key is not simplicity, but apparent simplicity. Password looks like any idiot could have made it up, but we have 14 of our people working on that show. There is a great complexity behind the screen. It requires great work to keep it simple."

Magic #: Suppose the contestant is trying to set the magic number at $2200, but the machine is too sensitive and goes from $2197 to $2204, etc. Now I've heard Drew say in the past something like, "That's good enough." If the contestant ultimately sets the number to $2198, when he wanted $2200, and if the ARP of the low prize is $2199, what would happen? Should said contestant be awarded the prize?

I say yes, because in this case Drew is directly affecting the gameplay by telling the contestant that $2198 is "good enough" for a $2200 answer.

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"Now folks, I want to thank you very, very much for inviting me into your homes for the last 50 years. I am deeply grateful. And please remember - help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered. Goodbye, everybody!"- Bob Barker signs off for the last time, June 15, 2007

I've heard in many recap reports of games that had "forced wins" and "forced losses." What are "forced wins" and "forced losses"?

A "forced win" is when a game is intentionally set up in such a way that it would be difficult to lose. Example--a Lucky $even price that's something like $14,545. Seems like lots of players guess 5's, so they'd have plenty of money left to buy the car.

A "forced loss" works the same way, except that the game is intentionally set up in such a way that it would be almost impossible to win. Again using Lucky $even--a price like $19,129 would just be plain mean, but it's hard to argue 1s, 2s, and 9s are common guesses.

Some games are tough to do that with, like Dice Game--you're at the mercy of what the player rolls, and no one can control that except the player. But there are others, like Pathfinder, where you can make the SP portion hard, and make it tougher for the player to earn a second chance if they make a mistake on the main game.

I've heard in many recap reports of games that had "forced wins" and "forced losses." What are "forced wins" and "forced losses"?

A “forced win” is when a game is set up to be unusually easy so that pretty much any contestant would win it as long as they pick the obvious answers.

For example, a Switch setup played for trips to Texas and New York. Or a Push Over setup like “457129083”. Or a Grand Game setup where the two items over the target are both expensive-looking vitamin supplements.

A “forced loss” is when a game is set up so that a contestant picking the obvious-looking will lose. Like, if there’s something insane in the Texas trip to make it cost more than New York. Or if Push Over’s prize ends up being $5712 instead of the more obvious $7129. Or if one of the expensive-looking supplements actually turns out to be under the target.

Logged

Quote from: Bill Todman

"The sign of a good game, is when you don't have to explain it every day. The key is not simplicity, but apparent simplicity. Password looks like any idiot could have made it up, but we have 14 of our people working on that show. There is a great complexity behind the screen. It requires great work to keep it simple."

A "forced win" is when a game is intentionally set up in such a way that it would be difficult to lose. Example--a Lucky $even price that's something like $14,545. Seems like lots of players guess 5's, so they'd have plenty of money left to buy the car.

A "forced loss" works the same way, except that the game is intentionally set up in such a way that it would be almost impossible to win. Again using Lucky $even--a price like $19,129 would just be plain mean, but it's hard to argue 1s, 2s, and 9s are common guesses.

Some games are tough to do that with, like Dice Game--you're at the mercy of what the player rolls, and no one can control that except the player. But there are others, like Pathfinder, where you can make the SP portion hard, and make it tougher for the player to earn a second chance if they make a mistake on the main game.

Make sense?

Very much so-- by the definition of a forced win that you provided, it would seem like the Vend-O-Price win on the recent Middle School Kids' Week show would be one, because those packs of cheese were so expensive, that it had to be obvious that the producers wanted that kid cave won (I may be incorrect, though).

Magic # is a prime example. Being as though most contestants will stop below $2500, it's easy to plan.

I'm not sure Magic # is the best example, though, because for some reason, people tend to be really bad at it. I've seriously begun to wonder if they've decided they can make every playing as easy as they want because the contestants will still manage to lose half the time.

Very much so-- by the definition of a forced win that you provided, it would seem like the Vend-O-Price win on the recent Middle School Kids' Week show would be one, because those packs of cheese were so expensive, that it had to be obvious that the producers wanted that kid cave won (I may be incorrect, though).

Yes, that particular playing of Vend-O-Price is a very good example of the concept of a forced win.

I thought I read this somewhere at some point, but do they still use the Contestants' Row monitors do keep tally of the money accumulated in the Money Game so Drew can see?

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There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

^The thing about that is that the prizes aren't truly relevant to the gameplay. Essentially, they act as a secondary and tertiary prize as opposed to the big prize, which is usually a car. Like what I did with analyzing Card Game's distribution, you might have to just find the data yourself.

However, resources like qwizx.com or even Adam's recaps sometimes find an exact match, which can help you get a general idea.

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Reminding you about 1932... when Richard Dawson was born. I will remember $19.32, even after he Checked-Out. Feud will never be the same without you.